Open Graphics Project
Open-source hardware project for a programmable graphics card.
The Open Graphics Project aimed to create an open-source hardware standard for graphics cards, with a focus on supporting free and open-source operating systems. The group built a reprogrammable development and prototyping board, with the long-term goal of producing a fully featured, competitive consumer graphics card.
Their first product was the OGD1, a PCI graphics card built around a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). While it lacked the performance and features of contemporary commercial graphics cards, it served as a prototyping platform for the project’s planned application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). It was also intended for professionals needing programmable graphics or FPGA-based prototyping boards. The project hoped the OGD1 would generate enough interest and profit to attract investors for the next card, as launching a custom ASIC design was expected to cost around US$2,000,000. PCI Express and Mini-PCI versions were planned later. The OGD1 began shipping in September 2010, roughly six years after the project started and three years after the first prototypes appeared.
Full specifications and open-source device drivers were to be released. All register-transfer level (RTL) code was to be made public. Driver and BIOS source code were to be released under MIT and BSD licenses, while the Verilog RTL for both the FPGA and the ASIC were planned for release under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The card featured 256 MiB of DDR RAM, passive cooling, and support for DDC, EDID, DPMS, and VBE VESA standards. TV-out was also planned.
The versioning scheme for the OGD1 followed the format: {Root Number} – {Video Memory}{Video Output Interfaces}{Special Options (e.g., A1 OGA firmware installed)}.
Key components of the OGD1 included: a Xilinx 3S4000 FPGA as the main chip, a Lattice XP10 FPGA for the host interface, two 256 megabit DDR SDRAM modules (front and back), a DVI transmitter pair (A and B), a 330 MHz triple 10-bit DAC, a TV chip, two SPI PROMs (1 Mibit and 16 Mibit), three optional 500 MHz DACs, a 64-bit PCI-X edge connector, two DVI-I connectors (A and B), an S-Video connector, and a 100-pin expansion bus connector.
Quick Facts
- Commercial
- Yes
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Open Graphics Project (OGP) was founded to design an open-source hardware / open architecture and standard for graphics cards, primarily targeting free software / open-source operating systems. Its first product, the OGD1, was a PCI graphics card using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip. Although the card did not have the same level of performance or functionality as graphics cards on the market at the time, it was intended to be useful as a tool for prototyping the project's first application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) board, as well as for other professionals needing programmable graphics cards or FPGA-based prototyping boards. It was also hoped that this prototype would attract enough interest to gain some profit and attract investors for the next card, since it was expected to cost around US$2,000,000 to start the production of a specialized ASIC design. PCI Express and/or Mini-PCI variations were planned to follow.
Reader's Guide
The Open Graphics Project is notable as an early attempt to create an open-source hardware graphics card, with full specifications and open-source device drivers planned for release. The OGD1 board was designed to serve as a prototyping platform for a future ASIC, and its RTL (in Verilog) was to be released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), while device driver and BIOS source code would be released under MIT and BSD licenses. The project failed to gain the necessary funding to produce an ASIC version of its card, and appears to have been discontinued in 2011. Despite its discontinuation, the project represents a significant effort in open-source hardware development, aiming to provide a fully open graphics architecture for free software operating systems. Its legacy includes the documentation and design files that remain available, and it serves as a reference for later open-source graphics hardware initiatives.
Did You Know?
- The OGD1 used a Xilinx 3S4000 FPGA as its main chip and a Lattice XP10 FPGA for the host interface.
- The card had 256 MiB of DDR RAM and was passively cooled.
- The project expected it would cost around US$2,000,000 to start production of a specialized ASIC design.
- The OGD1 began shipping in September 2010, six years after the project began and three years after the first prototypes appeared.
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